Collection search - Alpine Bread = [McGavin's Bread]

Record information – Brief

1

Alpine Bread = [McGavin's Bread]

Item number (ISN):

219630

Hierarchical level:

Item (Accession level)

Date:

1953

Item number (ISN):

219630

Type of material:

Moving images

Found in:

Archives / Film, Video and Sound

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Record information – Details

Fonds/collection:

CRAWLEY FILMS LIMITED

Accession:

1983-0373

Media:

Film

Original title:

Alpine Bread

Part:

1 of 1

Production date:

1953

Release date:

1954

Production company:

Crawley Films Limited

Production credit:

director, F. R. Crawley; script, Munroe Scott; photography, Stan Brede; sound, Paul Harris; Ferenc Orban; music, William McCauley; technical advisor, Marcel Maget

Sponsor:

McGavin's Bakeries Limited

Description:

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The shortage of firewood in the higher regions of the French Alps forced the villagers to adopt a system of communal bread baking over 500 years ago. With only enough wood for an annual firing of the oven, the community organized and baked all the required bread in the fall.~Filmed in the villages of the French Alps concentrating on Villar d'Arène and Ventelon the film illustrates this ancient bread-making process from the ploughing of the fields and planting of seeds for grain through the preparation of the dough to the final baking and finished product.~The story is told by Jean-Marie Clot a villager from Villar d'Arène who we see working the fields with his stubborn horse Poulet, preparing and kneading the dough and whose sister Elizabeth leads a herd up the Alps to graze.~One of the highlights of the baking is the removal of loaves which become stuck at the back of the oven. A volunteer is wrapped up in winter clothes and sent in to retrieve them emerging later drenched in perspiration. <29mn 26s>

Language:

English

Notes:

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1. Additional information on this film may be available in the production file (Manuscript Division MG 28 III 99, Volume 16).~2. Filmed in the summer and fall of 1953. The summer filming took place six days in July with the final shooting in the fall from November 20 to 30.~3. Credits listed in C490 are as they appear on the print. The following credits also apply according to the production file and upon viewing the out-takes: script, Judith Crawley; photography, F. R. Crawley; editing, Sally MacDonald; sound recordist, William McCauley; assistant director, J. P. Senecal; narrator, Yvon Charette.~4. Yvon Charette, a production assistant in Sally MacDonald's unit, narrates the film as Jean-Marie Clot the villager around whom the film centres.~5. For the scenes with Jean-Marie's sister Elizabeth leading the herd up the mountain to graze it was necessary to climb by foot for an hour and a half. Crawley carried the camera and tripod while Marcel Maget carried two photographic reflectors necessary to film the extreme close-ups. Crawley and Maget sprinted up the hills ahead of the herd to get the shots of them approaching and passing.~6. Jean-Marie was cruel to his horse Poulet, as was the norm amongst the peasants. To enforce his orders he would punch Poulet in the nose. This footage does not appear in the film.~7. Filmed in several villages including Villar d'Arène and Ventelon with scenes from both bakehouses used in the final production. For story simplification it appears as though only one bakehouse with Marcel Berthet as the baker was used. In reality, the man with the moustache and beret shown cutting wood and sealing the oven was the baker at Ventelon.~8. Crawley arranged with Electricité de France in Paris for the extra power required for lighting the baking sequences in the fall. A heavy electrical transformer was installed in central Villar d'Arène for the 75,000 watts of light required for some scenes. In the village of Ventelon an electrical line was layed five miles up the mountain.~9. The technical advisor Marcel Maget was an anthropologist whose black and white films made in Villar d'Arène in 1946 played a role in starting the Crawley production. Maget's intimate knowledge of the baking process along with his long acquaintance with the people was of great value to the Crawley production team.~10. The production crew worked an average of 160 hours per person for the 10 day fall shoot. Over 4,000 hours were logged by the crew for the complete production.~11. [MCGAVIN'S BREAD] was a working title which appears in some Crawley documentation.~12. See also, ISN 219632, ALPINE VILLAGE, a revision of ALPINE BREAD involving new titles. For copying purposes it is recommended that the elements listed at ALPINE VILLAGE be used.~13. Budge Crawley, the creator of this film, died in 1987.

Detailed holdings information:

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Vault ISN:

225938

Format:

FILM

Location number:

8330-1331/001
8330-1331/002

Number of items:

2

Kind of sound:

SIL

Stock:

ORIG

Technical description:

POS

Max. shrinkage:

0.7%

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

225939

Format:

FILM

Location number:

8330-0549/003

Vault code:

GAT

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

SIL

Stock:

ORIG

Technical description:

POS

Max. shrinkage:

0.5%

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

225957

Format:

FILM

Location number:

8330-0549/004

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

OPT TRK

Technical description:

POS

Max. shrinkage:

0.8%

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

PRT.ELEM

Vault ISN:

225958

Format:

FILM

Location number:

8330-0549/100

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

COMP

Stock:

REL PRT

Max. shrinkage:

0.4%

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

225965

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

8330-0549/300
8330-0549/301
8330-0549/302
8330-0549/303

Number of items:

4

Kind of sound:

MAG TRK

Made from:

DEPOSIT

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

430846

Format:

VIDEO

Location number:

V1 2006-10-0003

Number of items:

1

Duration:

120:00

Status:

REF

Vault ISN:

775587

Format:

SOUND

Location number:

219630-001.WAV
219630-002.WAV
219630-003.WAV
219630-004.WAV

Number of items:

4

Kind of sound:

BWF

Made from:

8330-0549/300
8330-0549/301
8330-0549/302
8330-0549/303

Status:

MASTER

Vault ISN:

980953

Format:

VIDEO

Location number:

V4 2006-10-0004

Number of items:

1

Kind of sound:

SOF

Made from:

8330-0549/201
8330-0549/100
7906-1766
8108-0847
9009-0189
7709-0770
8203-0012

Status:

MASTER
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

open

Consultation copy number:

V1 2006-10-0003

Restrictions on consultation:

~No Restrictions / Pas de restrictions

Copyright status:

Under copyright until 31 December 2037.

Reproduction access:

With written permission of Copyright Owner / Avec la permission écrite du détenteur des droits d'auteur

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